


Herbivores Are Lame: A Love Story

by xxemily92xx



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dinosaurs, Alternate Universe - Jurassic World Fusion, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, But mostly fluff, Canon-Typical Violence, Dinosaurs, Fluff and Angst, Jurassic Park AU, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining!Levi, T-rexdad!Levi, dinosaurs for days, ereri, except dinosaurs, let's be real, levi has a potty mouth, raptordad!Eren
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-04 12:43:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15841551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxemily92xx/pseuds/xxemily92xx
Summary: "What are you, some kind of raptor dad?" Levi drawled, eyes flat and bored."Uh, sure. That's actually not that far from the truth," Eren shrugged, tossing another hunk of flesh over the wire fence. A delighted shriek came from within and Eren smiled widely, eyes lighting up.Levi savagely buried the wave of affection and jealousy clawing his insides. Fuck no."Fuck me," he muttered."What?""I said fuck you."Or the one with two people crushing like crazy while dinosaurs eat everybody.AKA the jurassic park AU no one asked for but I'm writing anyway.





	1. Weak Stitching

**Author's Note:**

> So I was supposed to be studying and then decided I should write this instead¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
>  
> 
> Anyway, a Jurassic World AU that doesn't follow the same exact plot because reasons!

Levi had only left the cool refuge of his office minutes ago and already the hot Costa Rican sun beat down on his back, skin prickling with the beginnings of sweat. He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the glare, lips twisting down as he spared a moment to look at his watch. He was running behind schedule.

 _Fan-fucking-tastic,_ he thought irritably as the afternoon masses of Jurassic World engulfed him.

The thundering splash of the Mosasaurus crashed somewhere to his left followed by the roar of a crowd. He scowled, dodging open mouthed tourists and spoiled kids with ice creams and sun burned ears. The further he moved the thicker the crowd became, and he cursed his timing.

Fucking Erwin and his meetings meant that instead of slipping through to his exhibit he now had to wade through a throng of people. His mood plummeted with every bump and jostle, lips turned down in a snarl.

A balloon in the shape of a velociraptor bumped his face, static setting the hair of his bangs on end.

“Come to Jurrasic World Levi,” he snarled in a warped approximation of Hange, pushing through a family of four and ignoring the bump of a handbag to his shoulder, “it’ll be fun Levi.”

By the time he reached the scanner barring the general populace from the asset containment area Levi was a couple stitches short in his right sleeve and considering homicide. Raising his arm to wave his card, the loose stitching pulled uncomfortably from beneath his bicep in a way that set his teeth on edge.

Slapping a hand over the damaged cotton, Levi shouldered the door open and resigned himself to a shit show of a day.

Which is why he was not at all surprised to come face to face with Eren Yeager, velociraptor behaviour specialist and pain in Levi’s ass. Sun kissed skin, tousled chocolate hair and eyes a deep, ocean aqua made a devastating combination.

”You look like shit,” Levi declared.

_Nailed it._

“That bad, huh?” Eren wasn’t always there before the tours, but he did make a point to hover and be a nuisance at least a couple times a week. Levi tried and failed to be irritated by it.

Levi scowled, stalking further into the small room. “Don’t ask.” Bending down, he snatched a bottle of water from the pitiful refrigerator under the metal stairs leading up to the main control room of the exhibit. Without looking, he tossed a bottle over his shoulder.

 Eren caught it with ease of practise, cracking open the lid. “I don’t have to, you’re always in a shitty mood when you're late,” the twitch of his lips betrayed him however, and Levi narrowed his eyes.

“You better not be laughing at me you little shit.”

“I would never.”

“Right,” Levi drawled, eyes darting away as the other gulped down his water, the apple of Eren’s throat bobbing up and down. It was disgusting and not at all arousing.

Not at all.

“What are you, a fucking animal? Drink slowly, Jesus,” he settled on instead, and Eren rolled his eyes.

The shrill beep of his pager echoed through the room, and Levi slapped a hand over it. He knew who it was, and as usual they could wait like everyone else. He had a couple minutes to spare, and he knew who he wanted to spend them with.

Even if that person was a complete man child.

“So, I tried that thing you suggested with the girls,” Eren said easily, and Levi arched a brow.

“Oh?”

Eren leaned on the concrete wall, smiling as he looked over at the raven haired man. “Don’t play coy, you knew it would work. It’s funny, I spent so many years studying paleo sciences and behaviourism and I feel like I’ve learnt more from the cranky T-rex guy in Jurassic World than I ever did at Uni.”

It was Levi’s turn to roll his eyes. “Cranky? What are you, five?” He turned to the stairwell, as Eren barked out a surprised laugh behind him.

“That’s what you took from that?”

The pager beeped insistently once again, and Levi scowled. At the same time the intercom chimed to life at the top of the narrow steel staircase, Hange’s ID number illuminated.

Hitting the answer button harder than necessary, Levi answered flatly.

“What.”

“Levi don’t be so cranky, would it kill you to add a little inflection to your voice?” At his shoulder, Eren slapped a hand over his mouth as Levi glared darkly.

“What do you want Shitty Glasses?” he spat instead, and Hange laughed brightly.

“Oh, just to pass on the good news. Hi Eren,” she added, and Eren replied back with a grin, “Numbers for your tour today are the highest they’ve been all season!”

“Numbers are always high for the big carnivores. People love looking at shit that can eat them, like stupid cattle paying to visit a slaughterhouse.”

Eren scoffed beside him. “Like you can talk, you chose to spend your life looking after a 15 foot, 7 ton killing machine.”

Levi frowned. “First of all, she’s 20 feet tall. Second of all, it’s rude to talk about a lady’s weight.”

“You do dote on her, Levi,” Hange added as Eren chuckled.

“Just for that comment I’m giving her a second goat for dinner,” he said flatly as the other two laughed.

His pager buzzed with an alarm, and Levi sighed.

“Time to get the show on the road, huh?” Eren guessed, and Levi nodded.

“Oh!” Hanji exclaimed, “that reminds me, Eren there are a couple people wanting to see the girls at 3.30 so you better make your way over there. Good luck you two!” The screen of the intercom went dull again, and Eren groaned.

“Take it you know who it is?”

Eren scrubbed a hand over his face, eyes bright with irritation. “That dickhead Nile. Again.”

The pager buzzed again, and Levi knew he had about 60 seconds to begin his tour. He slapped a hand over Eren’s shoulder in a completely platonic way, not at all taken aback by how solid the warmth of his bicep had felt.

Not at all.

“I’ll meet you over there once I’m done here,” he promised, and willed his stupid heart not to leap as Eren smiled gratefully.

 

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

“No, sir, you cannot feed the Tyrannosaurus Rex a hotdog.”

 _Some people are fucking stupid_ , he thought privately as the man opposite kept pushing on. The rest of the tour group of VIPs had thankfully moved on once the main attraction was over, the less exciting but no less expensive herbivore tour would be beginning shortly and the shuttle bus was idling a few meters away.

“Doesn’t it eat meat? I bet it would like it, and it would just make the best memory for Junior here,” the man wheedled, one large hand clutching a large hotdog with all the trimmings, other hand on the shoulder of his plump teenage son. The son in question was playing on his phone, sauce in the corner of his mouth from his own devoured hotdog. Levi’s lip curled in disgust.

“Sir, guests are not permitted to feed the attractions in this sector,” he said robotically. The man opposite him huffed, his large stomach causing the ‘I heart JW’ shirt to ride up.

Levi fucking hated VIP tours.

“Oh, I won’t tell if you don’t!” he exclaimed with a laugh, Levi a cold statue beside him.

“Sir, as I have previously told you the bus is wait-”

“Look, I get your doing your job or whatever but do you have any idea how much money we have paid to be here?” The man snapped, red splotches rising on his cheekbones. “Just let my boy chuck his hotdog to the stupid dinosaur!”

“Sir,” Levi said again, teeth clenched, “with all due respect-”

Levi was cut off as the visitor attempted to push past him.

Attempted.

Catching him by the shoulder, Levi forcibly pushed the man back to where he stood a moment before, hand fisted in the white material of his JW shirt and features dark with fury. The man’s beady eyes went wide.

“Listen to me you pompous fuck,” he hissed, “you are going to bin that fucking hotdog and get on your god damn bus to the herbivore section. I don’t give a flying fuck how much you paid for your ticket.”

Pale, the tourist nodded, sufficiently cowed despite the foot of height difference. Dropping his hot dog at Levi’s feet, he pulled his son by the sleeve to the bus as quickly as he could.

Snarling in disgust at the sauce all over the ground, Levi struggled to reign in his rage.

Movement in the pen behind him made him turn, the canopy of the trees swaying slightly. Wandering over to the edge of the viewing area, Levi rested on the rail and took a deep breath. Slowly his anger gave way to calm, even breaths. The leaves brushed against something out of sight close to the edge of the fence, and he shook his head.

“I’m not giving you a hot dog so don’t ask.”

There was no movement or indication anything was there, but Levi knew she was listening anyway.

“I’ll make it up to you, okay? If I let you eat hotdogs all the time you’d get fat,” he smirked as the sound of air pushing out in a large exhale made the leaves tremble.

“That hurt your feelings? You’re such a drama queen.” Squinting at the sun as it made its descent, he straightened, patting his pockets for the key to his jeep. “I’m going to the raptor section, but you already knew that.”

The tree closest to the electrified fence shook, a single eye visible.

“Come on,” he said mildly, the reptilian eye blinking once, “you know you’re my favourite, stop fishing for compliments.” Glancing left and right, Levi decided they were alone. Deftly stepping onto the rail at the edge of the viewing area, he held one hand through the fence taking care not to disturb the electrified metal.

Slowly and with more gentleness than one would think a therapod of her size was capable, the tyrannosaurus rested the edge of her snout against his hand. Levi smiled, the warmth of her skin heating his palm.

There had been a motion before Jurassic World had opened its doors officially to cull the tyrannosaurus rex after the Jurassic Park tragedy, but Levi had argued from the get go the stupidity of such an action. With Erwin, the current operator of Jurassic World, the two of them had assured the brass that with Levi in charge there would be no need for such drastic measures.

It had taken a long time to reach the level of trust he and the scarred dinosaur had, but Levi wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Stepping back, he jumped back down onto the platform before anyone wandered over and got any bright ideas. The massive dinosaur shook her head, the foliage around the fence shuddering as she moved elsewhere in the pen. Presumably to the goat pad.

Looking fondly at the pen once more, Levi turned around and headed back to his jeep.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

By the time Levi made it down to the Velociraptor exhibit it was feeding time. Eren stood on a metal platform overlooking a clearing in the enclosure where four clever sets of eyes watched unwaveringly, heads tilting inquisitively as they warbled.

“Okay girls, dinner time! Echo you’re up,” he called down, thumbing the clicker until the raptor in question was ready. Without taking his eyes off her, Eren leaned down and grasped a dead ferret from the bucket at his side, throwing it into the enclosure. Echo jumped and caught it deftly, immediately scampering away with her prize.

“Hey, Delta! Stop it!” he pointed down to one of the raptors which had been snarling and pushing another. Delta, Levi assumed, straightened and stared at the sound of the clicker. “Be nice to Charlie or you won’t get any.”

"What are you, some kind of raptor dad?" Levi drawled, eyes flat and bored.

"Uh, sure. That's actually not that far from the truth," Eren shrugged, tossing another hunk of flesh over the wire fence. A delighted shriek came from within and Eren smiled widely, eyes lighting up.

Levi savagely buried the wave of affection and jealousy clawing his insides. Fuck no.

"Fuck me," he muttered.

"What?"

"I said fuck you."

“Your shittier than usual,” he observed, bending down to scoop up the last bloody ferret.

“I swear to god if you try and offer me a ferret-” Levi cut off as Eren laughed brightly, tossing it down to the waiting dinosaur quartet.

He turned to him with a warm expression, eyes so fond it made something in Levi’s chest seize. “Hey, if you think it would help they’re all yours,” he held up the blood spattered bucket jokingly, and Levi curled his lip.

“That’s not only disgusting but completely unsanitary.”

“Such a clean freak,” Eren teased, and Levi scowled, the two of them moving back from the platform and towards the stairs.

Before Levi could return the banter there was a loud clang of metal and a very human scream. The pair spun around as one of the assistants began to plunge over the railing, one arm half hooked over the metal but slipping fast. Adrenaline coursing through his body, Levi ignored Eren's alarmed shout and threw himself forward into action as the man- no, boy- began to fall.

Levi caught the boy's arm and slung his body half over the rails in the same moment the assistant began to drop. Cold took hold in the pit of Levi's stomach, relief fading quickly into shock as gravity took over.

 _"Shit!"_ he managed to gasp out as they tipped over the railing.

The metal frame vibrated harshly as Eren slammed himself down, catching Levi's outstretched hand on the way down through the gap at the bottom, the weight of his body smacking into the metal rungs as he was harshly pulled down by the pair. Fixing his feet against the side of the walkway, Eren grit his teeth as he tried to hold the pair in place.

"I've- ah!- got you!" he grit out, trying desperately to hold on.

Levi gasped, pain shooting through both arms from the weight of the struggling assistant and the pull of Eren's hands.

"P-please! Don't let me go!" the boy cried out, and Levi growled as he began kicking his legs frantically.

"If you don't hold fucking still we're both going down," he snarled, and the boy quieted. Turning his attention upward, Levi took in Eren's strained features. His hand was slippery with sweat, a combination of the afternoon heat and the exertion of holding himself in place.

"Someone! Help!" Eren called out frantically, and Levi heard someone, presumably help, in the distance. Closer than that, and more importantly, he heard four sets of excited warbles and clicks. Running a quick mental calculation, Levi figured the boy below was about three metres from the ground, well within jumping height for a fully-grown velociraptor. He knew exactly how this was going to play out, and an odd sense of calm filled him.

Levi took a deep breath. "Eren."

"No, fuck no. I can- ah!-I can hold on!" he gasped out, arms shaking and eyes desperate.

The two felt a tug at the same time the assistant screamed, the young man sobbing as one of the raptors managed to clip his boot. White, hot, pain lanced through Levi's shoulder making black spots dance over his vision, but still he held on.

"Eren," he tried again, forcing himself to look up into the other's eyes, "we're going to fall and it's not your fault."

Unshed tears pooled in ocean depths, from frustration or despair Levi wasn't sure. "Stop sounding like you're saying goodbye, we're not fucking doing that. I can stop this, they listen to me. If I could just-" his grip slipped, Levi falling for a moment before Eren managed to grab hold of his sleeve.

Levi had a split second to remember why grabbing his right sleeve was a bad idea just as the weakened fabric tore free of its stitching. Then he was falling, the second stretching as he took in Eren's horrified face and the assistant's shriek. Just as quickly he was slamming into the ground in a tangled mess, adrenaline flooding his veins as he rolled onto his back and pushed himself to his feet, the boy scrambling to stand beside him a moment later.

"Just- stay still! Don't run!" Eren yelled from above, his rapid footfalls echoing loudly as he ran down the length of the walkway over their heads.

 Four sets of heads tilted curiously as the raptors began to move forward, two splitting off to the foliage around them. The one in front made a bizarre honking noise, her eyes narrowing and teeth snapping. Levi held his hands out and slowly backed up, clearing his throat and elbowing the assistant to do the same.

The tell-tale  _click, click,_ of a raptor talon sounded from behind him, and he grit his teeth.

"We're being flanked," he murmured, voice low and even, "this is their hunting tactics. Back up to me," he spared a look to the assistant who nodded, looking ready to piss himself. Levi kept his gaze low, not wanting to instigate a violent reaction from what was probably the Beta of the pack in front of him.

Maneuvering so the assistant's back pressed to his, Levi willed his breathing to stay even and calm. "What's your name," he whispered.

"T-Thomas," was the breathy reply, and Levi nodded. Thomas' tremors set him on edge, and he could see it was drawing the eye of the apex predators before them.

"Okay Thomas, you need to listen to me very fucking carefully," Levi began, pausing for the boy in question to whimper in reply. "You're displaying a lot of prey behaviours right now and I need you to stop. Can you do that?"

Thomas gasped out a breathy sob.

The raptor in front of Levi craned her neck over his short stature to better take in the boy behind him.

"Thomas," Levi tried again softly, "stop drawing attention to yourself. Eren will be here but we need to hold on until then."

"It's coming closer," he whispered hysterically back, body quaking against Levi's. 

"Kid, you need to stop-" Levi barely had time to think before he ripped Thomas sideways and out of the path of one of the raptors, the dinosaur having broken formation with the other three to experimentally jump at them. She hissed at them, pupils dilating and jaws snapping. Pushing Thomas behind him, Levi rotated around to hold his arms out calmly.

"No," Levi said firmly. "Bad. Bad raptor."

She narrowed her eyes and turned her head at him, growling lowly.

"Hey- no. Don't be a little shit." Catching movement from his peripheral, he struck an arm out in the direction of the second raptor attempting to flank them. "I see you, that's close enough."

"Oh my god, we're gonna die, aren't we," Thomas despaired beside him, and Levi fought the urge to roll his eyes.

"Stop wailing and start listening or yes, we will fucking die," he snapped, realising his mistake the second he caught a look at the boy's face. Before he could bark out a warning, Thomas split off and began to run as fast as he could into the thick foliage. All four raptors whipped their heads around, the Beta making a deep, throaty hunting call to the other three. 

"Well, fuck," Levi managed.

 

 


	2. Things left unsaid

“Well, fuck,” Levi managed.

Three of the four raptors immediately split off into the foliage, pursuing their prey as their instincts kicked in. The fourth dinosaur eyed him off quietly, intelligent eyes taking him in.

“You must be the beta,” he murmured, “Blue, right?” The raptor made an odd noise at the name, somewhere between a purr and a honk. Levi kept his hand out straight, willing his heart beat to remain steady.

Any paleo-biologist worth his salt knew the importance of maintaining a calm exterior when faced with a bipedal carnivore. If you didn’t act like prey or like a challenger you could buy yourself some time to get out of the situation, and Levi kept this at the forefront of his mind.

Of-course, those lecturers had probably not intended on the recipient of that advice being face to face with a velociraptor, deemed by many to be the most intelligent and arguably most lethal dinosaur currently alive.

 _I fucking knew today would be a shit show,_ Levi thought irritably.

Blue warbled, stepping closer and nostrils flaring.

“Hey Blue,” he tried evenly, “how about you don’t eat me, okay?”

Taking another step forward, Blue slowly brought her head closer to his outstretched hand, and Levi fought the urge to tug it back to his chest.

“Shhh, nice and calm okay girl?” he took a small breath as she stared at him. “People taste like shit, yes they do, don’t fucking eat me,” he babbled in the same soothing tone, hoping to God Thomas had somehow gotten away and the time he was buying was making some difference.

Nostrils flaring against his fingertips, the raptor let out a screech and lunged backwards in alarm. Levi flinched at the sudden change, eyes widening as Blue turned tail and disappeared into the thick forest of her paddock.

“Well fuck you too,” he mumbled, the same screech being echoed by the rest of the raptor squad in the distance. Mystified, Levi looked down at his palm.

The same palm he had rested against the Tyrannosaurus barely an hour ago.

Lips twitching into a small smile, Levi mentally promised Rexy another goat as soon as he got out of here.

Not wasting anymore time, he walked as quickly as he dared to the edge of the enclosure so he could follow the wall without the worry of an ambush. The walkway above vibrated again as several people armed with tranq guns rushed onto it, guns at the ready and focused.

“Where were you literally five minutes ago,” he snapped, and a couple of them looked at each other sheepishly.

“The assets are in the other end of the pen, just keep moving forward and you’ll find the exit,” one called down, and Levi shook his head angrily.

“Well thank fucking goodness you’re here!” he snarled over his shoulder, feeling justifiably pissed off.

A mumbled “..didn’t have to be so rude…” drifted down to him, and Levi felt the urge to throttle something.

Ahead of him the bars of the exit made him quicken his pace, Eren standing worriedly within and Thomas laying against the outside with a blanket over his shoulders. At seeing him Eren lit up, opening the preliminary gate and barely remembering to close it behind him before raising the inner bars for Levi.

Physically dragging him through, Eren slammed the button to close the gate and tugged Levi into a bone crushing hug. “I would have felt so bad if my raptor squad ate you,” he mumbled, and Levi exhaled an amused breath.

The tightness in his chest began to loosen, something warmer taking its place. “I would have felt bad, too,” he agreed, and Eren snorted against him.

“You must be rattled, you’re making jokes that are actually funny.”

“Maybe you’re only just now appreciating them,” he shot back, and Eren pulled back to look at him properly.

“Yeah,” he agreed slowly, “maybe that’s it.” Something in his eyes made Levi clear his throat awkwardly, shifting a step back. Eren, catching himself, grinned and rubbed a hand against the back of his neck.

Hitting the button to open the preliminary gate, Eren nudged Thomas with a boot. “I figured this one needed saving more, no offence Thomas,” he added, and Thomas groaned. Recoiling slightly, Levi realised the other man had vomit on his blanket.

“I feel like you’ll have an opening for another assistant this summer,” Levi murmured, and Eren snorted.

“At least this one didn’t get eaten. As soon as I came through the gate the girls knew the game was over, so he was able to get away. I was going to head deeper in to find you but one of the control guys said you were out of danger, so,” he finished with a shrug, trying to seem nonchalant. Levi could see the strain in his shoulders and the tightness that still clung to his eyes.

“Hey,” Levi put a hand to the other’s shoulder, eyes searching, “thank you for having faith in me. I know how hard making that call would have been, and I’m glad you didn’t throw away everything you’ve worked for.”

Eren’s eyes widened, ears flushing a pink hue. “I just, um.”

“You’ve been training them more than you reported, haven’t you?” Levi asked knowingly, and Eren shushed him, glancing worriedly back at Thomas.

“If Nile or the military get wind of it-” he began, but Levi waved him off.

“Your secrets safe with me,” he assured and the other smiled gratefully. “Pretty sure the only reason I’m still alive is because Blue knows her own name. That’s pretty damn smart, even for a raptor.”

Glancing up, Levi could see a small group of armoured men jogging over to them.

“Besides, you aren’t the only person who spends more than their reported time with their asset,” he added cryptically, and Eren looked at him in surprise. Before he could comment further they were surrounded by the response team.

“That was insane, are you guys okay?”

“Yeager, that was amazing I’ve never seen someone have that kind of control-”

A blanket was thrust into Levi’s hands while someone else tried to check him for injuries. He swatted them away irritably, tossing his blanket at the medical grunt closest to him.

“Uh, we’re fine?” Eren tried, and Levi huffed.

“What Yeager means is piss off and deal with the assistant,” he said flatly, and Eren elbowed him for his abruptness.

“No! Well, I mean…Thomas could use some assistance,” he finished weakly, shooting Levi an unimpressed look as the latter arched a brow. Most of the response team heeded the advice, moving over to check on the traumatised assistant.

“Is that not what I said?”

“You don’t have to be so mean, is all.”

“What’s mean? We are both completely fine, go deal with the guy that puked all over himself.”

Eren shook his head, “Levi, that’s a normal reaction to have when you’re almost eaten,” he chided, and Levi rolled his eyes.

“If he had listened to me, he wouldn’t have been almost eaten at all,” Levi griped, and Eren shrugged.

“I’ll give you that one. Thomas always was an idiot.”

Unseen by the pair now walking away, several response team personnel looked on in bewilderment.

“Besides,” Levi continued, “if I had a dollar for every time Rexy tried to eat me in those first few years…” he trailed off.

“You’d be a wealthy man?”

Pausing, Levi frowned. “No. I’d have 6 dollars. That’s not wealthy at all, Eren.”

Eren laughed abruptly, shaking his head. “6 times? Somehow I thought there’d be more considering she’s a T-rex.”

Ducking his head slightly, Levi climbed into the driver’s side of the jeep with a scowl. “What, just because she’s a T-rex we can’t have a cute squad bond like you guys have?”

Leaning out to slam the door, Eren clicked on his seatbelt and shrugged. “Well, I don’t mean to brag, but my girls are pretty smart,” he said smugly.

“Hey, Rexy is smart enough to do what she needs to do,” he retorted, pulling away from the raptor paddock. “She’s also got the strongest bite force of any terrestrial animal of any time period, by the way. So your raptors can go fuck themselves,” he added, and Eren made an enraged noise.

“Velociraptor is agile enough that bite force doesn’t matter.”

“Agility doesn’t mean shit when Tyrannosaurus could just step on you.”

“She wouldn’t know where to step if Velociraptor stood still,” Eren shot back.

Levi stopped the car.

“Okay, okay, I won’t mention the ‘can’t see things that don’t move’ evolutionary flaw,” Eren said quickly, though Levi doubted the sincerity since he looked like he wanted to laugh again. “I’m sorry!”

Frowning, Levi grudgingly accelerated again. “That’s a sore point and you fucking know it.”

Eren couldn’t stop the chuckle this time, holding his hands out palm first placatingly. “At least we can agree on one thing.”

“What’s that?”

Eren grinned. “Herbivores are lame.”

Levi scoffed. “That’s like saying the sky is blue- of-course they’re lame when you compare them to carnivores. Carnivores shit all over herbivores.” Dusk began to descend around them, and Levi flicked on his headlights.

“Where are we going, by the way? I forgot to ask,” Eren added, and Levi’s lips curled up into a small smile.

“I owe Rexy another goat.”

 

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

“That…was disgusting,” Eren said slowly, nose crinkled.

Levi shrugged. “It’s like you’ve never had goat in your hair before.”

At the raven-haired man’s words, Eren scrubbed a hand through his hair gingerly, mouth turned down in distaste. Taking pity, Levi threw a pack of wipes he kept off the side of the viewing platform in a hidden drawer to the other man, and Eren caught them gratefully.

The pair had walked down from the VIP tour platform into the staff only section beside the feeding pad. A small tunnel ran the length of the edges of the paddock, reinforced and electrified to meet safety requirements. Even so, they were not used regularly by many staff, the mass of assistants and keepers preferring to use the higher platforms.

It wasn’t the first time Eren had accompanied Levi within the enclosure, but it was the first time he was there for feeding time. Possibly the last time, Levi reflected in amusement, as the other looked on in horrified fascination as the tyrannosaurus flicked the goat carcass into the air again.

“She does like to play with her food,” Levi confessed. As if to punctuate his sentence, what looked to be a femur slapped down onto the ground with a sickly splat.

“I can see that,” Eren replied faintly, skin perhaps a touch paler than it had been before.

Shaking her head, Rexy flicked more pieces of farm animal through the pen with a delighted rumble. Levi looked on fondly, a softness to his features he didn’t usually allow himself. Eren smiled at him behind his shoulder, even as he quelled the nausea in his stomach.

Darkness had descended, and with it the small lights at the base of the goat pad lit up. A rack at their feet contained several night-vision goggles, but with the moon as full as it was neither man had needed it.

It was almost romantic, Levi thought wistfully, if one discounted the loud stomps and echoing rip of viscera.

“So…” Eren sank down onto one of the chairs Levi had brought into the ground level viewing area with a sigh, “I guess my first question after today is how close are we talking when you say ‘unreported time with asset’,” he said slowly, gauging Levi’s reaction.

Levi raised a brow. “Always straight to the point with you, Yeager.”

Eren shrugged. “I figure I’m just beating you to the punch.” Levi smirked at that.

“Touché.” Straightening, Levi slipped his ID card from his pocket and turned to the small barred door. Raising his hand and grimacing at the gaping tear through his uniform arm, the lights blinked green and the door slid open with a pneumatic hiss.

“Levi,” Eren said slowly, “are you seriously about to get in the cage with a T-rex?” He stood up as Levi walked through, closing the gate behind him. “Levi!”

Waving him off, Levi turned to the dinosaur in question.

“Levi, her instincts are saying food right now, are you crazy?” he said urgently, one hand gripping the bars of the door.

Levi ignored him, walking forward slowly. The great therapod had finished her goat, and he grimaced at the blood still staining her muzzle.

“Rexy, you’re a mess,” he chided gently, and she tilted her head at him in response.

“ _Levi!”_ Eren hissed as loudly as he dared, wary of startling the massive carnivore.

The ground shook as she stomped one huge foot down, then the other, until she towered over Levi’s tiny form. Eren didn’t dare breathe as she lowered her jaws to his outstretched hand.

“Good girl,” Levi cooed, cleaning the bloodied remains of goat from her muzzle with a wipe as the dinosaur rumbled her contentment with the treatment.

Eren looked on in slack jawed amazement.

The tyrannosaurus exhaled loudly, the force flipping Levi’s bangs back, and he tapped her on the nose. “Quit showing off,” he scolded, finishing up cleaning the bits of goat he could reach.

Levi lowered his arm and stepped back, the dinosaur taking his cue to return to her previous height. Sniffing loudly, she turned and with great thundering steps, began to move further into the paddock and foliage.

As Levi stepped back into the viewing area, Eren closed the barred door behind him in wide eyed wonder.

“Does that answer your question?” Levi asked easily, looking a little smug as he perched himself on the edge of a seat.

Eren sank back down, his eyes trained on Levi in amazement.

“That was either the craziest thing I’ve ever seen or the stupidest,” he said faintly, and Levi made an indignant sound.

“Try neither. That was the result of 6 years daily training and hands on exercises, one on one,” Levi said flatly, flicking the bloodied wipes into the waste basket beside him. “With one or two hiccups.”

“6 hiccups, wasn’t it?”

Levi shrugged. “The official number is only 4, so keep that to yourself.” 

The soft thudding eventually faded, the tyrannosaurus moving further away as the pair lapsed into silence. It was comfortable, Levi decided, both lost in thought. He felt as though the fatigue of the day suddenly hit him at once, the adrenaline disappearing from his system and leaving behind a heaviness in his limbs and a sharp ache in his shoulder.

Looking down at the ruined fabric of his shirt, Levi couldn’t muster the energy to be annoyed. Shirts could always be repaired or replaced. Limbs…not so much.

For the first time it hit him that he could have died in that raptor pen today. It wasn’t something new to him- working with dinosaurs had its downsides, after all. It was that Levi abruptly realised he would have missed his chance.

_Chance to do what, exactly?_

Eren tilted his head back in thought, head bumping the plastic of his chair as he gazed up. Levi stared at the hollow of his throat, the place where he knew a strong pulse thumped a steady beat like the wings of a bird.

Unconsciously, Levi bit his lip.

He felt like he was burning up, the need to say something unbearable and fit to burst from his chest like something out of a horror movie. The one with the clacking teeth and second mouth, he reflected with a frown.

He could see it unfolding already; he’d open his dumb mouth and say something idiotic. Something stupid that made his heart tremble and his hands shake. He’d get caught up in the moonlight and the summer breeze that whispered through the grass and say something he couldn’t take back.

And then it would all turn to shit, just like it did in the sci-fi.

“What are you thinking about?”

Levi jerked his head up. Eren was looking at him curiously, expression light and open and patient. It reminded Levi of the way people look at abstract paintings, like something you don’t really understand and probably never will but you don’t mind because the result is amazing anyway.

“What’s the name of that old, shitty movie where the alien fucks everyone up?”

Levi had never been an art person.

Eren didn’t look surprised at the odd subject change; if anything, his look grew fonder, like this was something he had come to expect from the shorter man. Levi didn’t know what to do with that.

“Hmm, the alien movie with the alien who eats everybody?” he pondered this for a moment, lips twitching upwards. “Could it be Alien?”

Levi shrugged. “Yeah, that. I’m thinking about Alien.”

“Never pegged you for a sci-fi fan,” Eren said knowingly. Levi studied his hand, wary of flecks of blood or goat matter getting under his fingernails.

“Didn’t peg me for a cute squad bond with a T-rex either, yet here we are,” he said flatly, gesturing behind him to the paddock, and Eren snorted his amusement.

“Okay.”

“Okay, what?”

Eren sat forward, ocean depths bright with something Levi couldn’t quite name but made a flush start to prickle at his neck. Admiration, maybe?

“Okay you were right- there is more to Rexy than I gave her credit for,” he admitted, and Levi arched a brow.

“That’s what you get for being a dinosaur racist.”

Eren spluttered. “ _Racist?!_ What about all the times you talked shit about the rap- stop making me change the subject you sly shit,” he caught on after a moment, and Levi internally groaned.

_Stop saying all the right things and being so nice and good and fuck off already before I say something you’ll regret._

“No idea what you’re talking about.”

Eren leaned back in his seat, eyeing the empty enclosure over the raven-haired man’s shoulder. “It’s actually pretty amazing. We’re talking about a 22 year old tyrannosaurus rex who we _know_ has eaten humans before,” he paused, looking back to Levi, “and yet, you were able to form the kind of companionship paleo-behaviourists dream of in only 6 years. That’s incredible, Levi.”

Crossing his arms, Levi turned to face the enclosure once more. “You do realise that I only have one dinosaur; you have four.”

Eren was already shaking his head. “I hand reared each of those raptors from eggs. I was the first person each of them saw when they hatched, the first one they imprinted on and the established alpha from then on. What you have is…I don’t know,” he trailed off.

“Tyrannosaurus rex is generally a solo hunter who forms close familial bonds with one or two other individuals,” Levi supplied, “my best guess is we’ve managed to establish a familial bond but I’m not certain in what capacity. All I know is I trust her and she trusts me.” He shrugged, “That’s it.”

“You’re downplaying probably the greatest achievement of your career. I never took you for the humble sort,” Eren teased softly, and Levi turned around so the other could see his eye roll.

“Not all of us go around bragging like you do, little shit.”

“Hey!”

Straightening, Levi tossed the jeep keys to Eren who scrambled to catch them, half slumping out of the chair to do so. “You’re driving. I’ve got goat literally under my nails and I don’t want to have to buy another cover for my steering wheel.”

Eren gagged. “I will never eat goat again.”

“Who the fuck actually eats goat, anyway?”

“Uh, lots of people do.”

“Bullshit.”

As the pair squabbled over meaningless things, Levi could almost ignore the crushing weight of the things he would never say.

Almost.

 

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

“I was informed there were two of them,” Erwin commented with a frown, eyeing the thick glass critically.

Behind him, Dr Yeager adjusted his glasses, flicking through documents on his electronic pad. “One asset devoured the other,” he said easily, turning his back to the other man.

Erwin squinted at the glass, leaning forward. “She ate her sister?”

“Yes.”

“That’s…I suppose that’s not surprising given the DNA we spliced, is it?” he said after a moment, unease building in his gut. Dr Yeager waved a hand lazily, attention fixed to whatever experiments he was developing.

“It is not uncommon for the stronger sibling to devour the weaker. In fact, it is arguably smarter than sharing resources and is a very positive indicator that the asset will have dominant predator genes,” the geneticist replied, eyes flashing in what Erwin thought was the most animated he had seen the man.

Eren Yeager had clearly taken after his mother, he thought absently.

Movement in the pen drew his attention.

“She’s white.”

Dr Yeager came to stand by him, lowering the pad. “Yes,” he said after a moment.

Erwin made a thoughtful noise. “In some cultures, white represents bad luck and death, did you know that?”

Dr Yeager’s brows drew together in confusion. “Is that pertinent in some way?” Erwin clasped his hands behind his back, frowning as he looked out at the monster they had created.

“I hope not.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> EXTRA:
> 
> “She’s white.”
> 
> Dr Yeager came to stand by him, lowering the pad. “Oh my god, Erwin, you can’t just ask someone why they’re white!”

**Author's Note:**

> So...you're still here if you're reading this which is cool. Let me know what you thought and if all goes well I should be updating again in one weeks time :) 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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